Melissa Nightingale headed over to the Wainuiomata Woolworths supermarket, which sold the winning $24m Lotto ticket, and asks shoppers how they think the money could be spent.
Video / Mark Mitchell
Some Lower Hutt locals are kicking themselves for not buying a Lotto ticket, days after a $24 million winning ticket was bought at their supermarket.
The ticket for the unclaimed $24.25m prize was sold at Woolworths Wainuiomata, and residents of the Hutt Valley suburb have been abuzz over the news.
Krystal Clarke and Junior Fetoai said it was the one week they hadn't bought a Lotto ticket. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Junior Fetoai and Krystal Clarke, who were heading out of the supermarket this morning, were starkly aware it could have been them.
“It was the one week that we didn’t buy Lotto, that’s so gutting man,” laughed Fetoai.
The pair said they’d heard rumours on social media about who the winner was, but didn’t know anything for certain.
They said if they had won the money, they would pay their debts, buy a house, and help out family.
Kristel Glanfield said she would want to support the community by buying local with the Lotto winnings, and maybe doing up the local parks. Photo / Mark Mitchell
But when asked whether the person should spend some of the money on something for the community, Clarke had some advice: “Keep it, mate.”
“That’s all yours, man,” added Fetoai. “You bought it yourself, you might as well have it yourself.”
Meanwhile, Kristel Glanfield said she’d already had questions from a few people living elsewhere, asking if she was the big winner - but admitted she also had “sadly” not bought a ticket last week.
“It’s pretty cool that it’s, like, in our community,” she said.
Richard Maxwell said he would want to give some of the money to the hospice and ambulance service. Photo / Mark Mitchell
If she won, she would spend the money on a new house, helping friends and family, and putting money back into the community by buying local, and “helping maybe do up the kids’ parks and that”.
She said the money could benefit everyone in the community, “but ultimately, you know, it’s their choice... they’ve got a lot to think about”.
Glanfield wanted to congratulate the winner, and said she hoped the prize went to someone that needed it, and that it “changes their life for the better”.
Richard Maxwell also hoped the money went to “someone who needs it”.
“I mean, the way the country is going, and, you know, people are struggling,” he said. “I hope it goes to a worthy family.
Linda Harrison said how the winner spent their money was up to them. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“I’ve been around to all my cousins and whānau, it wasn’t them.”
Maxwell, whose wife became sick earlier this year, said if he had won, he would give money to the hospice and ambulance staff.
Linda Harrison said the win was “really good” and wasn’t aware of any other time such a large winning ticket had been sold in Wainuiomata.
She said it was up to the winner how they spent their money.
A Lotto spokeswoman confirmed as of 3pm on Monday, the ticket remained unclaimed.
The winning ticket’s prize is made up of Powerball and a quarter-share of Division One’s $1m.
It is the 12th Powerball multi-millionaire of the year, and comes just over a month after a $10.3m prize was won in Wairoa.
A Woolworths spokesperson told NZME: “It’s always exciting when one of our stores sells a winning ticket. We are very pleased for [the] customer.”
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
